The Old Mole
The Old Mole is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1651 in The English Dancing Master, London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a proper 3 Couple Longways dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 176 bars. It is in the key: D Major.
Playford writes:
Lead up a D. forwards and back, set and turn S. That again All a D. to the left hand, back again, set and turn S. ·: As much to the right First man and last Wo. meet a D. back again, meet again and change places ·: : First Wo. and last man as much ·: ·: The second man as much with his own ·: ·: ·
The two first We. hands, and the two last men hands, lead forwards and back to the odd one against them, the the odd ones go under your arms Do this change four times over to the place where you began it Then first and last change as before to your places
All the men hands, and all the We. hands, meet all forwards and back the first and last, last on each side turn each other, the 2. turning his own Sides where you turned, and turn your own Men the S. Hay ·: We. as much The D. Hey twice over ·: : Cast off and come to your places. That again.
The tune was published by Playford for the dance, The Old Mole. Synthesized music by Colin Hume
The animation plays at 124 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.
| I.A1 | 1-4 | Up a Double, and back |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| I.A2 | 1-4 | Up a Double, and back (again) |
| 5-8 | Partners set and turn single | |
| I.A3 | 1-4 | All face men's wall, forward a double and fall back |
| 5-8 | Face partner, set and turn single | |
| I.A4 | 1-4 | All face women's wall, forward a double and fall back |
| 5-8 | Face partner, set and turn single | |
| II.A1 | 1-4 | Long 1st corners forward to meet and fall back |
| 5-8 | These same change places | |
| II.A2 | 1-4 | Long 2nd corners forward to meet and fall back |
| 5-8 | These same change places | |
| II.A3 | 1-4 | 2s forward to meet and fall back |
| 5-8 | These same change places | |
| III.A1 | 1-4 | W3+W2 join hands forward a double to M3 and fall back while M2+M1 do the same to W1 |
| 5-8 | These same make arches, all crossing to own side | |
| III.A2 | 1-4 | M3+M2 join hands forward a double to W3 and fall back while W2+W1 do the same to M1 |
| 5-8 | These same make arches, all crossing to opposite side | |
| III.A34 | 1-16 | That again, twice more |
| IV.A1 | 1-4 | Long 1st corners forward to meet and fall back |
| 5-8 | These same change places | |
| IV.A2 | 1-4 | Long 2nd corners forward to meet and fall back |
| 5-8 | These same change places | |
| IV.A3 | 1-4 | 2s forward to meet and fall back |
| 5-8 | These same change places | |
| V.A1 | 1-2 | Lines of three take hands and forward a double to meet |
| 3-4 | 1s+3s fall back a double (individually) | |
| 5-8 | M1+M3, W1+W3, 2s two hand turn | |
| V.A2 | 1-4 | Same pairs side |
| 5-8 | Partners two hand turn | |
| VI.A1 | 1-8 | Men right shoulder hey for three on the side |
| VI.A2 | 1-8 | Women right shoulder hey for three on the side |
| VI.A3 | 1-8 | Circular hey for six, 1s face, 2s+3s face neighbor (no hands) |
| VI.A4 | 1-8 | Circular hey for six (again) |
| VI.A5 | 1-4 | 1s followed by others, cast to bottom |
| 5-8 | 1s followed by others, cast to top | |
| VI.A6 | 1-4 | 1s followed by others, cast to bottom (again) |
| 5-8 | 1s followed by others, cast to top |
If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.
If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=TheOldMole
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2021 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.